So i've noticed that in the past few months my coolant levels have been going down bit by bit. I'm starting school again and will have to drive around 90+ miles twice a week so I'm trying to do as much maintenance on my 850 as possible before I start putting it under so much stress.

I've checked:

The oil dipstick, it's clean
The coolant, no oil on top
The exhaust when starting up, no smells or smoke of any kind
Most hoses, all of them except 1 is clean.
Area around the engine, underneath the car. Can't find any signs of leakage
Inside the cabin, when heater is on I can smell the heatercore and sweetness from the coolant

I'm basically checking to see if this is normal, if I can just add more coolant, and what else it might be. I noticed that behind the motor where one of the coolant lines run it goes from a rubber hose to a metal hose. At that meeting point there is what looks like rust/dried crusty coolant. Perhaps this is my problem area? If so, how would I fix it and is it advisable.

I tried taking some pictures but they came out a bit blurry. If anyone needs more pics I can take them.

Photo Album - Imgur

Thanks for the help,

Bubrockit

 

I thought about that too, checked it earlier today and there wasn't any smell or dampness. I know that the heater core is bad though, I bought the car in winter of last year and when the heater was on you could smell the antifreeze, it could be the heater core started leaking worst but it's constantly 100F+ where I live so its hard to tell if something is leaking since it drys up almost instantly.

 

if there is no coolant in you oil and no oil in your coolant, meaning your head gasket is fine. loosing coolant and your heater core having that smell with the heat on, probably the heater core going bad.

 

good way to check a heater core is with the car warmed up turn your defrost on full hot if theres moisture in the heater box the windshield will fog up. also i had a dissappearing coolant problem turned out to be a very small crack in the overflow tank no puddles caught it one day with the hood open and the car running could see steam coming out the side of the tank. you can get a new tank from ipd for about 25.00 and cap for 8.00 ALWAYS replace the cap especially if you have the black one

 

Read this entire thread very carefully...
https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...roblems-63516/

This will also tell my story:
Head Gasket Replacement, Volvo 850 / S70 Turbo

 

Thanks for the heads up rspi, I'll fill the coolant up and i'll pop out the bulb to see if it bust or not.

Unfortunately, if the headgasket is the problem I'll just have to sell this car as I don't have enough money to fix it up myself. Almost everything else checked out fine so I'm hoping it's just the heatercore and not the head gasket but I'll check out the bulb never the less. Can't be too careful.

 

"Pop out the bulb", huh? Lost me there?

Yesterday I was thinking about our S70 and realized that the car had been loosing coolant for at least a year. When it first started she simply noticed that it was a little low when she'd check the oil or something, I'd notice it was on the low side when I'd do an oil change. It just gradually worse. It went from needing a cup every month or so to needing a cup twice a week so you may have time.

The sad thing about those slow head gasket leaks is that I think people sell those cars off to people all the time. One of my nephews purchased one. They don't show up on test drives. I think most car inspections will not show a minor leak like that.

 

RSPI you popped up a link for dash bulb replacements? That is where the comment came from.

 

Oh, that was a MISTAKE. I fixed that link but here it is again.
https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...roblems-63516/